Jonathan Henry, Gabriel's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated:
"Following the parliamentary elections and the positive result to the Referendum, both held in December 2012, we will continue the dialogue with the new Romanian Government regarding the economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits that the Project will bring to Romania. We look forward tofinalising the environmental permitting process for the Project to allow Gabriel to build Romania's first modern mine for the benefit of the country and all stakeholders."
Further information and commentary on the operations and results in the fourth quarter of 2012 and full financial year is given below. The Company has filed its Annual Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and each is available for review on the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com.
About Gabriel
Gabriel is a Canadian TSX-listed resource company focused on permitting and developing its world-class Rosia Montana gold and silver project. The exploitation license for the Project, the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Europe, is held exclusively by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, a Romanian company in which Gabriel owns an 80.69 percent equity interest, with the 19.31 percent balance held by CNCAF Minvest S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining enterprise. Gabriel and RMGC are committed to responsible mining and sustainable development in the communities in which they operate. The Project is anticipated to bring over US$31 billion (at current gold prices) to Romania as potential direct and indirect contribution to GDP. The Project will generate thousands of employment opportunities. Gabriel intends to build a state-of-the-art mine using best available techniques and implementing the highest environmental standards whilst preserving local and national cultural heritage in Romania.
For more information please visit the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com.
Further Information
Financial Performance
-- The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $2.5 million, and for the year ended December 31, 2012 was $11.4 million, or $0.03 per share.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
-- Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2012 totaled $79.0 million.-- The Company has been implementing its plans, initiated in May 2012, to reduce monthly costs until such time as the Government moves ahead with Project permitting. As a result, average monthly net cash usage of $6.1 million in H1 2012 was reduced to $3.7 million in H2 2012. Excluding Referendum activities the H2 2012 monthly average net cash usage was $3.3 million.
NI 43-101 Technical Report
-- On November 7, 2012 the Company filed a new National Instrument 43-101 compliant Technical Report, which presents updated capital and operating costs and revenue projections from those previously published in March 2009 ("2009 Report") within the context of the current environment for commodity, capital equipment and consumable prices.-- Overall the initial capital cost has increased from US$876 million in the 2009 Report to US$1.4 billion and the sustaining capital costs increased from US$366 million in the 2009 Report to US$571 million. Operating cash costs, estimated in accordance with standard industry practices and valid as at the third quarter of 2012, equate to some US$16.97 per tonne of ore processed, equivalent to US$399 per ounce of gold produced over the life-of-mine ("LoM"), including refining, transport, treatment, a four percent state royalty and net of silver credits.-- The economic analysis presented by SRK in the Technical Report, which considers the Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves planned to be mined and processed over a 16 year period at the Project, derived the following key post-tax, pre-finance LoM results at a gold price of US$1,200/oz and silver price of US$20/oz: -- Undiscounted cash flow US$3.6 billion; -- NPV at a 10% discount rate of US$865 million; -- IRR of 19.6%; and -- Payback of initial capital outlay in Year 4 of production.-- Including estimated interest, financing and corporate costs the Company estimates the capital required to bring the Project into production and to a position of positive cashflow is approximately US$1.54 billion.
